Many of the hot topics in today's economic discussions center around ideas first popularized by the Austrian School. You're thinking like an Austrian if you consider any of these economic factors important...

The Austrian School was the first tradition to portray individuals and their choices as active participants in the economic process. In fact, according to the Austrians, markets are determined by these choices. After all, what value can be given to an object outside of the desire for it?

The Austrians didn't pretend that the role of the economist was to predict the outcome of economic processes. Too much of that process was uncertain and couldn't be predicted by one so "out of the loop." The only one with the proper knowledge to predict outcomes and minimize risk was the entrepreneur, perhaps the most important role in any economy.

Individual property ownership is the bedrock of a healthy economy according to the Austrian School. Without it, there's no basis for capital, no basis for trade, no basis for value... and there is no basis for a free market.

In the Austrian School model, a realistic price system emerges when free markets are allowed to do their work. It's only through competitive markets that we can find the optimal price for resource distribution, the one that reflects the best situation for both producers and consumers.

With the Austrian School's belief in a "free and competitive markets" approach to macroeconomics came their equally strong belief in a minimal role for government in our everyday lives. Free markets should be just that: without the intervention of central institutions.